Cruise & Crowe Rumors Find New Life In Brit Tabloids

And now for something not completely different. Last week’s Tom Cruise as Pike and Russell Crowe as a villainStar Trek rumors rippled across the world and are now rippling back from British tabloids. This past week, the Daily Star ran a story claiming that Tom Cruise had actually ‘signed on’ to make a cameo as Captain Pike in the new film, even though that very same rumor was denied a week earlier. According to the tabloid’s supposed ‘source,’ “Star Trek was the start of the huge sci-fi craze and Tom is fascinated by all of it.” More recently, it appears that the Daily Express has received word from yet another ‘insider’ that Crowe “is definitely considering [director/producer] J.J. Abrams’ offer.” The insider also claims that Crowe “was always a ‘Star Trek’ fan as a kid, which is a big bonus.” Of course once the rumors got upgraded by the Brit tabloids they then got picked up by other news outlets (examples: here, here, and here).

A familiar patternThis ‘second wave’ of rumors from the UK is becoming familiar. There appears to be a pattern ofBritish tabloids taking internet rumors as their own and claiming theyreceived the “tip” from “an inside source.” This was the case when the Daily Star picked up the first rumor regarding Cruise’s involvement in Star Trek and expanded it to state that he would be playing Spock. Of course when they don’t have internet rumors to report sometimes they create their own. It should come as no surprise that Daily Star is the tabloid responsible for the “Robbie Williams as Kirk rumor” published a few weeks back (and debunked soon after). It should also come as no surprise that both the Daily Star and Daily Express are published by the same company, Express Newspapers. So, naturally, it’s probably best to take these latest Cruise and Crowe stories with a gigantic grain of salt… or to not take them at all.

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Driver

Bloody Brits are at it again!

August 15, 2007 9:05 am

snake

Good – it builds hype for the movie….

The only other film series they go crazy with is Bond..wild speculation well in advance..

August 15, 2007 9:11 am

oddballuk

I think been a brit and read the star that it will cause some real good buzz for the film.

even my mum who hates all things Star Trek is wanting to see it

August 15, 2007 9:16 am

JC

How did Pike get injured? if He preceded Kirk that could be a plot twist that put Kirk in charge.Maybe that’ll be in the movie.Maybe we’ll see Cruise as Pike in that spooky chair thing in coming attractions-My prediction.

August 15, 2007 9:17 am

montreal paul

I agree with snake… it builds hype for the movie. Having main stream actors in rumours about Trek, makes non traditional fans interested as well. Rumours about the movie are great.. but I am dying for some real announcements!

August 15, 2007 9:19 am

snake

also…

Last time i remember the British press speculating and publishing rumours about a Trek movie was Star Trek VI where they said Spock would get married..Kirk becomes an ‘intergalatic monk’ and Bones dies (which i remember thinking at the time was obviously BS as he was alive in the TNG pilot)…i remember one paper even did one of those caricature drawing of them like that (might have been the Daily Star)…plus there was always pleanty of hype, rumours and speculation for the previous 5 films too…

I really dont recall any hype/rumours etc at all for the TNG films in the British press (which was odd considering the main star was English).

August 15, 2007 9:21 am

Barney

Very little, if anything, in the UK tabloids is true or based on fact. They have lazy hack journos who spend 30 mins surfing the next for stories, spend 15 minutes writing them up, email them to a sub editor and then sod off to the pub or the golf course for the rest of the day.

These tabloids are a disgrace and a shame to our country.

Still, at least it is, as folk have said, creating some buzz around the movie. Silver lining and all that…

August 15, 2007 9:27 am

snake

…re 6 – actually there may have been abit for Generations and FC but bugger all for the last 2..

But theres been nothing like whats happening with this one though…with big names being thrown around way in advance etc…guess its this net based media hungry instant access environment world we now live in….But more so the fact that this new movie is really starting to intrigue people with the big names speculation..Nimoy returning…Abrams directing..recasting the original roles etc..

August 15, 2007 9:31 am

JC

Sombody needs to do a photo recreation of Cruise as Pike in that chair for fun.

I just wanted to thank Chuck for joining the family. I do find this brit tabloid thing strange. Basically they see a big celeb name and want to run it, but they dont like citing other sources so the internet source always magically becomes ‘hollywood insiders’ and of course magically more info comes to light….as if the Daily Star has better sources than Variety and the Hollywood Reporter (who you would think would have got a whiff of Cruise actually signing a deal)

I still think there is a possibility that the cruise rumor is true….or at least that Abrams has considered it. They are friends and Cruise is HUGE and they want HUGE. There are a billion little things that can get in the way of it actually happening, and I am certain that the Daily Star is not place to get the best inside info on what is happening at Bad Robot or with Tom Cruise.

But the problem is that there is this strange ripple effect. First the tabloids run their version of the internet version….then WENN (the entertainment wire that will run anything with a celeb name in it) then it starts getting picked up by real news papers and then it almost looks like it is true. You end up with the story on hundreds of outlets all around the world and yet it starts with just one report on the net.

The papers print shit in Britain. Often there is a kernel of truth, but only a very slight one. They can take a “Robbie Williams likes Star Trek” story and turn it into a full page spread on how he is playing Capt Kirk. They seem to be akin to your National Enquirer type magazines except that THE SUN (the biggest culprit) is the biggest selling newspaper in the UK.

I mean, I buy The Sun, but it is total crap. It does have good sport articles (although I’m not even sure they are true).

Heres an e.g of the british press and how they run with stuff from the net…Today there was a story in the Daily Express about Roger Moore suddenly confessing to guilt over Elvis death as it has emerged that the last film Elvis saw at the cinema was The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977…Roger Moore apparently quipped something along the lines of ‘I hope it wasnt a contributing factor…’

anyway David J…the reason we are reporting this is because if you go to google news and search for ‘star trek’ you will see dozens of stories from all accross the world…all citing the brit tabloids. I have got numerous ‘tips’ to the tipline about ‘tom cruise signing’ etc. The above is for context to this. We are not reporting the tabloid stories as truth but putting them into their proper context. Also making the point about what kind of buzz this film is getting

But there are 20 stories on the front page….you do not have to read them all…it is not a requirement

I agree that the tabloids can help build hype for the movie… but there is some hype I think we can do without. (Robbie Williams, anybody?)

#10 Anthony: No problem, glad to be here, lol! I agree, this whole thing is strange, but it appears to sell papers – and I’m sure there are people gullable enough to believe some of the stuff. Taking unverified rumors and claiming them as their own seems to be what their good at – and if they can’t do that, they just invent the crap (again… Robbie Williams, anybody? :D)

I am also sure that Abrams has at least considered having Cruise in the movie. Personally, though, while I have nothing personal against Cruise – the little couch-hopping alien that he is – I would rather not see an actor that big in this movie. I think it would just throw the movie off; people will be focused on the performer, not the performance or the plot. So I think it’s good that his rumor has thus far been denied.

One more thing – I am loving that pic. I couldn’t stop laughing for a whole minute. Remember, Tom — it’s one beep for yes, two for no!

August 15, 2007 10:41 am

DavidJ

Must… read… all… stories….

August 15, 2007 10:49 am

Etha Williams

I can’t decide which I find funnier: the photoshop or the VI rumor that “Spock would get married..Kirk becomes an ‘intergalatic monk’ and Bones dies” (Although actually, after V, those plot points might have actually sounded almost plausible.).

August 15, 2007 11:33 am

Oceanhopper

I look forward to next Monday’s headline in the Daily express: “DIANA — CRUISE ARRANGED HIT TO SECURE TREK ROLE!” The Express is the laughing stock of the country for printing every Monday, without fail, a “new” consipracy theory that Princess Di was actually killed by: the Government /the Royal family/M.I.5/Biker Mice from Mars. You could scarcely find a less credible source. (Besides, how could “sofa-bouncing” Cruise handle a role described as “too cerebral”?!) ====================== In fact, while I’m at it, for our American friends, here is a quick guide to the British tabloid press: The Sun – Bare-breasted girls on Page 3. News coverage always biased to common prejudices. Rabidly despises anything to do with foreigners. The Star – Bare-breasted girls on Page 3 and usually a few other pages too. Prints little news aside from speculation about who in the Big Brother house is likely to shag who else. Dislikes foreigners. The Daily Sport – Bare Breasted and behinded girls on pretty much every page – except the sports ones at the back, because it’s rather difficult to interweave them among pictures from the football. Hates foreigners, (unless they are female and naked). The Daily Mail – Despises foreigners, other races, people from North of 52 degrees latitude, gays, liberals, the BBC and single mothers with venom, for they are all the root of all crime. Also feels house prices are too high. Would never dream of having bare-breasted girls in its pages, and denies angrily that breasts even exist. The Daily Express – Obsessed with Diana. Every other page is a picture and conspiracy theory. The only known instance of a newspaper experiencing obsessive compulsive syndrome. The Mirror – Not keen on foreigners, unless they live in Hollywood and have done something out-RAY-geous. Also likes stories about… Read more »

#29 I always knew those Martian Biker Mice were up to no good… this proves it!

August 15, 2007 12:33 pm

Robert April

Word has it that Tom Cruise and John Travolta will both be in the movie as it will be a Battlefield Earth/Star Trek crossover based on a long lost L.Ron Hubbard draft script.

Battlefield Trek! Yeah!

August 15, 2007 12:37 pm

Sean

#4

If memory serves, Pike was injured many years after giving up command. Kirk even recalled Pike handing over the keys to the ship (at the time not being injured). It seemed to come as a surprise years later when he found out he’d been injured in a training accident.

Of course that’s how it happened in the series, who is to say Abrams can’t take some artistic license and switch a few things around? Wouldn’t bother me.

August 15, 2007 12:37 pm

cruise hater

maybe cruis will jump up and down on mccoys table..i hope hes not cast he is not star trek material

August 15, 2007 12:49 pm

Mazzer

Oceanhopper: I’m guessing you’re a “foreigner”, based on your descriptions of the tabloids :-)

August 15, 2007 12:51 pm

jon1701

29 #

Nail on head folks.

Nothing in our papers but knockers and scandal.

I have never, ever belived any Star Trek rumour in the tabloids.

Ever.

August 15, 2007 1:01 pm

KennyB

#4 — After a long tour as Enterprise captain (11 years, four months and five days of which were spent with junior science officer Spock as a loyal member of his crew), Pike is severely injured while rescuing several cadets from a baffle plate rupture onboard a J-class training vessel, the delta ray radiation leaving him mute, badly scarred, and confined to a wheelchair

August 15, 2007 1:13 pm

Lord Garth Formerly of Izar

beep beep

August 15, 2007 1:14 pm

Bryan

The manip accompanying this story is great. If nothing else comes out of the Cruise rumor, it will have been worth it for this picture alone.

August 15, 2007 1:32 pm

Pizza Hotdog

#29 Oceanhopper. Cheers! Well done!

Almost makes me want to move to the UK just to read your newspapers!
Seems you guys get all the scoops about everything, and right now Trek is the in thing. :)

Cruise and Crowe. With all the rumors, I suppose we’re all doing one and will eventually be eating the other.

If JJ wants to attract the main stream ticket buyers, I suppose he’s going at it the right way. I just hope the aftermentioned ‘actors’ don’t take too much in the way of artistic license without doing some homework on what Star Trek is all about.

#32, happens I just watched MENAGERIE today; Kirk, when asked by the Commodore at the Starbase if he’s met Pike, Kirk replied something like “once, when he was promoted to Fleet Admiral” but there was no mention of a “handing over the keys” sequence.

Though that could be a great way to start the new flick. Or at least be a teaser trailer. (I personally would love a teaser trailer, or a series of teaser trailers, that aren’t actually part of the film, but lead up to it. McCoy getting his transfer orders, Scotty finding out he’s transferring to a Starship, etc., all little one-to-three minute vignettes leading up to the big show.)

August 15, 2007 2:31 pm

Oceanhopper

#34 – Nope, I’m British actually. :-)
I just hate the way they pander to old prejudices. The Germans are particular targets, and of course the French.
Europe, quite rightly, tends to ignore it and in response accidentally forgets to invite Britain to their parties. ;-)

Anyway, if they really want to find a role for Cruise, I suggest:
– victim of transporter accident
– redshirt on planet of the torso-eating jellyfish
– stunt-man who falls off 2km cliff
– One of those gold-skinned aliens in Fez hats from Journey to Babel
– Continental Breakfast for Salt Vampire from M-113

August 15, 2007 2:34 pm

Robert April

Don’t know if this has been thrown out there yet but how about Keanu Reeves as Pike?

August 15, 2007 2:36 pm

Boldone

New to your site. When I was a young fella, TOS came on the air for the first time. My older brothers were both in Nam. TOS became my “great escape” from worring ’bout them constantly. And, of course, became a big fan.

Just wanted to tell y’all how much I enjoy your site Anthony & Co. I’ve learned a great deal just by reading the comments over the past few days. Not only Trek info, but other fascinating stuff as well ( i.e. #29’s post on Brit Tabloids). Hilarious!

August 15, 2007 2:42 pm

Cygnus-X1

NO CROWE!!

I really don’t care for that guy.

Give a talented, lesser known actor the job. Crowe has his two Oscars and jobs and money to last a lifetime. Another job would stress him out, and, increase the likelihood of him taking his anger out on an another unwary employee.

And, then, there are his less than coherent, annoyingly self-righteous speeches to worry about, as well as the possibility of him injecting his annoying “views” into the content of the film.

Russell Crowe and Star Trek don’t go together.

August 15, 2007 2:45 pm

Robert April

Kevin Costner as a bad guy might be cool as well.

August 15, 2007 2:50 pm

Xai

#47 Robert April

The Enterprise voyages to Waterworld

August 15, 2007 3:06 pm

Heywood Jablome

That photoshop of cruise in the pike wheelchair knocked me out of my seat! I laughed so goddamn hard I was crying! Charles if you’re responsible for that picture, thank you for giving me the best laugh I’ve had all week! Brilliant!

August 15, 2007 3:17 pm

THX-1138

Call me biased, but I’m sticking with Timmy. At least that get’s me some much needed attention.

Hugh Jackman as Scotty.

Sean Connery as Robert April.

John Cleese as Robert April.

The ghost of Ernest Borgnine as the Gorn.

Rosie O’Donnell as the creatures from Murasaki (or whatever it was called) in “The Galileo 7” episode.